Temple Dome

INTRO

The Temple Dome is a 16ft geodesic dome w/ cnc cut wood panels and interactive LED lighting. It has traveled to festivals around the country including Gem and Jam festival 2016/2017, Art Outside 2016 , Sonic Bloom 2016 and SXSW 2016. The project started September 2016, and was successfully crowdfunded.

DESIGN

Inspiration

After seeing many geodesic domes in the past, I have seen none that had panels for each of the triangles on the inside nor led lighting. This led to my first project.

DOME

Originally, I began with a 3v 5/8 dome design using www.desertdomes.com as a calculator resource for getting my dome strut length. I wanted to make most efficient use of my material, 3/4″ electrical steel conduit. At 10 ft long, I made it so 3 struts would fit on a 10 ft piece minimizing waste. The end design was a 16ft geodesic dome structure for the structural skeleton of the piece.

PANELS

Panels were designed to fit each of the triangular sections of the geodesic dome. Holes cut out at the ends with zip ties to hold on to the struts. Panels were designed using Geokone. First, I had to 3d model the geodesic dome, then unfold all of the panels to see the basic pattern. Through this pattern, I recognized 10 different panel design variations could be had. From the top down, I made each an iteration of the number 3. Getting more and more basic as it went down the dome. Panels were to be made of out of 1/4″ underlayment panel.

LIGHTING

Lighting was a later stage in the development of this structure, taking place in January. I had never done an arduino project nor soldered anything for that matter, so this was a huge learning curve. I wanted an interactive lighting that made sense for the dome. 5 15ft” strips of 2812s, driven by arduino. I used the fast LED library for a demo pattern, using an RFID reader to switch between patterns. LED patterns would be driven towards the center of the dome.

BUILD

INTRO

The Temple Dome is a 16ft geodesic dome w/ cnc cut wood panels and interactive LED lighting. It has traveled to festivals around the country including Gem and Jam festival 2016/2017, Art Outside 2016 , Sonic Bloom 2016 and SXSW 2016. The project started September 2016, and was successfully crowdfunded.

BUILD PHASE

Well, this entire project was one giant learning curve. Never built or fabricated, assembled a geodesic dome before, nor had any experience CNC machining or LED programming assembly. But hey, this is how I learn.

DOME

55 pieces of 10 ft conduit, cut into 3 different lengths with a metal chop saw. Each piece was then flattened at the ends 2″ from each end w/ a hydraulic press and hammer / anvil. Drilled at both sides, then each flat end angled.

PANELS

Panels were cut out of 30 pieces of 4’x8′ 1/4″ underlayment panel on a 5×10 cnc router. Previously had no CNC experience, so that took a bit of learning. Underlayment was then first finished with 2 coats of outdoor polyurethane.

LIGHTING

Schematic Diagram for Arduino

20A Computer power supply outputs 5v and 12 v currents. Perfect for this setup. Arduino takes in 5v and LEDS take in 12v. (5) 16.4 Ft SMD 3528 RGB Led Strips. Not included in the diagram, was 1 extra breadboard and 2 cat5 cables. I needed a 15ft extensions between the arduino and the led power supply. Cat5 cables carried the data and power down the line.